Sailing Genevieve…

Hi I’m Martin and I have decided to write a blog about what’s next.   Hopefully it will be the narrative of life post- “Working for The Man” as my partner John and I forge ahead on a new adventure.  Yes, we have decided to stop working for a salary. Certainly, we have sold our very comfortable apartment in NYC. And for sure, we have irreversibly started to move on to a new phase in our lives. But we are NOT retiring.

To us, “retirement” defines an escape from life’s stresses, a period to enjoy stability and comfort, a reduction in the vagaries of life, and the security of a fully-feathered nest.  We seek NONE of that.  We seek quite the opposite of that.

So, we are embarking on a quest to remove some of our creature comforts, invite unpredictable forces to dictate our path, welcome uncertainty and adventure, stress ourselves physically and intellectually, and force ourselves to swim like mad to keep up, not tread water.

On the immediate horizon plans are gelling to undertake some amazing sea kayaking expeditions; sail in the Pacific (with friends); hike and ski new mountain ranges; educate ourselves; and find and live on a sailing boat, and with her as our base, explore the world.

We have enjoyed working.  We have lived a professional, urbane New York City lifestyle, made wonderful friends, accumulated nice things, travelled, lived the good life.  But that can’t be it.  Without kids as a legacy, financial commitments, nor an anchor to a specific place, we are free to explore and to see what we might have been missing while tied behind a desk, enduring the subway commute, negotiating slushy ice mounds, and fitting adventure and relaxation into 20 days of vacation.

We need to put a halt to living our life hopping from one short-term milestone to the next and take a broader view of what we want to do differently with the rest of it.

John and I have done well career-wise, made some timely real estate investments, saved. So we are very fortunate.  But mainly lucky in that we now have a plan, that we are both adventurous souls willing to take on a bit of  risk and discomfort, and foresight to do this now, while health and energy are still on our side.

And the plan is:

• Quit work (check!)
• Get rid of all our accumulated “stuff” (check)
• Sell NYC pad (check!)
• Move to our creaky old Summer house on Long Island (imminent)
• Enjoy the Summer
• Search for and buy a sailing yacht (in progress)
• Educate ourselves further on the finer points of ocean sailing (in progress)
• Plan some bucket list sea kayaking, hiking, cycling, skiing expeditions
• Stay fit, healthy, and flexible
• Move aboard aforementioned boat and set sail to avoid Northern winters!
• See how much of the above we can do before we get bored with it or die

So stay tuned.  Some of you might like to read this to stay connected with Martin and John, some might be interested in our process and decisions as we seek out a boat and prepare her and ourselves for new adventures.